In June 2012, over 135 heads of state, as well as business leaders, local governments and civil society representatives will meet in Rio de Janeiro for the Rio+20 Earth Summit. China has an important stake in the outcome of this conference. The 1992 Earth Summit and the drafting of Agenda 21 launched the concept of sustainable development as a national policy directive in China, and China's leaders have made clear that transitioning to an environmentally-sustainable, low-carbon economy is crucial for China's future.
China's rapid development over the last two decades has improved the standard of living of hundreds of millions of its citizens, but it has also taken a severe toll on human health and the environment. Addressing the negative impacts from unsustainable development requires long-term international cooperation and has led to the development of technologies and best practices that can greatly contribute to global sustainability. Rio+20, taking place one year into China's most progressive five-year plan to date, is a unique opportunity to highlight the continuing obstacles to sustainable development and to showcase and scale up successful efforts.
Based on the suite of climate change and clean energy-related goals in China's 12th Five-YearPlan (2011-2015), we have compiled a set of implementing actions necessary to meet these priorities and encourage even more sustainable development. Our vision for the Earth Summit is to see countries, enterprises and citizens take real actions that are specific and meaningful, with measurable targets and transformative impacts.[1] We believe China could contribute to the success of Rio+20 by committing to take the actions below.
Implementing Actions to Meet and Exceed China’s Climate and Energy 12th Five-Year Plan Goals
• Establish renewable energy quotas for grid companies and local governments
China has set a goal to increase the share of non-fossil energy to 15% of its primary energy consumption by 2020. By 2015, China aims to increase wind and solar deployment by 70GW and 10GW, respectively. Feed-in-tariffs for wind and solar PV and provincial subsidies will continue to be crucial for achieving these goals.
• Improve integration of renewable energy onto the grid
China’s ambitious plans to develop its renewable energy industry stimulated investments of US$400 billion during the last five-year plan while helping to decrease its reliance on coal and improve energy independence. While China's wind capacity and total renewable energy capacity are leading the world, insufficient grid infrastructure and integration have led to poor utilization of some renewable sources. China should establish appropriate grid connection standards for wind and solar, and develop energy storage and natural gas peaking plants in order to improve integration of renewable energy sources.
• Improve financing mechanisms and policies for urban, distributed renewable energy deployment
By 2015, China intends to build 15 GW of solar PV capacity, including large solar bases. In addition to developing these utility-scale applications, China should redouble efforts to develop distributed, rooftop solar PV in Chinese cities by setting appropriate incentives policies and encouraging the use of innovative financing models. China should also implement an aggressive, nationwide program to install rooftop solar hot water heaters in urban and rural areas.
• Improve measurement and verification of grid companies' energy savings targets
Effective on January 1, 2011, national demand-side management (DSM) regulations require China’s grid companies to meet annual energy saving targets – 0.3% reduction of the sales volume and peak load of the previous year. In order to successfully enforce the regulations, transparent and effective measurement and verification mechanisms should be in place to assess grid companies' efforts to improve energy efficiency. Once energy savings are verified under a nationally acknowledged mechanism, it would pave the way for China to design another policy mechanism where grid companies are incentivized to achieve above the assigned targets.
• Phase out highly polluting diesel fuels in cars and trucks
China is the world's largest vehicle market. Growth in vehicle ownership over the last decade has put increasing pressure on urban air quality. China has set a national target of reducing acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide pollution by 8% from 2011 to 2015. Yet, despite huge gains in vehicle efficiency, China's roads are still crowded with high-sulfur diesel-burning vehicles. Standards on new vehicles have been delayed because of the lack of cleaner fuels.
China's diesel problem can be tackled as it has been in other countries, by first focusing on production of cleaner-burning diesel fuels. By implementing standards and incentives to reduce sulfur in diesel fuel, China can reduce the environmental and health impact of its growing numbers of diesel vehicles.
[1] See NRDC's official submission to Rio+20. Please click here.
[2] See all of NRDC's suggestions for improving and implementing China's renewable energy law. Please click here.
